


Game of Shadows

by ancalime8301



Category: Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Chess Metaphors, Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Pre-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-10 00:52:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4370945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancalime8301/pseuds/ancalime8301
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holmes faces off against an unseen chessmaster who, when discovered, ups the ante. (Occurs before and during the early parts of AGOS, as you might guess from the title.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game of Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://watsons-woes.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://watsons-woes.livejournal.com/)**watsons_woes** July Writing Prompt #18: _The Games We Play. Involve a game of some sort in your story, whether it's a round of whist, an intense night of Cluedo, or a Pac-Man tournament._

When Holmes first determined there was a pattern behind the movements of seemingly unrelated petty criminals, the possibilities were too enticing to ignore. They were pawns, he concluded, merely pawns in a larger game, propelled by the movements of the more important, powerful pieces.

Carefully he began his countermoves, slowly deducing the shape and layout of the unseen board from the reactions to his interference. It was slow work, but satisfying when a new connection became evident. Some pieces remained cloaked in shadow even as others were revealed, but he was convinced of their existence just as astronomers were confident of the presence of heavenly bodies from the effect they had on surrounding matter.

Just as surely, there must be a chessmaster moving the pieces. The plans were too intricate, too intelligent, to originate with any of the higher criminals he'd uncovered thus far.

When the shadows masking the man behind the board finally parted, Holmes was not overly surprised to find him to be a professor, and of mathematics, no less. It was fitting, for Holmes' intellectual equal.

His real opponent now discovered, Holmes set about playing their game in earnest. His adversary, too, was in deadly earnest, willing to go so far as to threaten Watson and his new bride. This Holmes would not, could not accept, but so long as Moriarty lived, he would pose a hazard to the populace. And most importantly, to Watson.

This was a game Holmes needed to win, no matter the cost.


End file.
